1. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in eggs.

3. Combine the flour, pudding mixes, ginger, baking powder and cinnamon and gradually add it to the creamed mixture and mix well.

4. Put the dough on top of a large piece of plastic wrap and gently push into the shape of a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

5. On a lightly floured surface , roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Note: for a soft cookie, cook until middle is set but not completely firm. Remove to wire racks to cool.

1. In a bowl combine cream cheese, butter and lemon juice. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in 1 1/4 cups additional powdered sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency. If needed, add more powdered sugar or milk in small amounts to get the correct consistency. It should be a little thinner than what you would use to frost a cake.

3. Decorate. If you don't have the decorating bags and tips, you can use a freezer or storage bag. After you put the frosting in the bag and close it, snip off one of the corners.

On the first day of Thanksgiving break after getting the boys ready for the day {approx. 8 a.m.}, I heard my oldest son ask,

"What are we going to do next?"

With a long list of things to do for Thanksgiving, I knew it was time to open our arts and crafts box and look for creative ways to keep their little hands busy. I love this bottle top stamp idea that I found on Pinterest. It was the perfect project to do--quick, easy, fun and frugal!

What you need:

Bottle tops. The tops from the flavored water and orange juice bottles were just the right size.

Foam shape stickers. Check your local dollar store for these stickers. I found many of these stickers at our local Dollar Tree. Letter and number shapes would be perfect for teaching letters, spelling, numbers and math.

Stick the foam stickers to the bottle tops to create your stamps:

Ink pad or paint. If you use paint, be sure to cover your surface with newspaper.

That's all there is to it! A perfect project for a rainy day or when you hear your children ask, "what can we do?"

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The turkey miraculously was not overcooked, we had the best Green Bean Casserole I have ever tasted, had a great visit with family, and made a Thanksgiving snowman. And then after everyone had left, I realized the Jell-O salad was still in the refrigerator where I had left it that morning!

We've got plenty of Thanksgiving leftovers to use up this week and my husband has been hinting that he's been craving a little more red meat in his diet so here's what's cooking in my kitchen this week:

Breakfast
Cereal
Waffles
Toast, BananasChocolate Coconut Pancakes - This sounds more like a dessert than breakfast, but I love trying trying new things in the kitchen and can't wait to try this recipe!

Back in the day when I was a single, childless, twenty-something with a carefree, I've-got-my-whole-life-in-front-of-me attitude, I remember hearing moms share all kinds of horror stories about their children. Like the stories about the mini-artists finding markers and creating wonderful artwork on the walls. And I thought to myself,

"Why don't they just put the markers up where the kids can't get them?" So simple.

That plan worked well for me until recently. What I failed to consider is that my baby was now a much taller and stronger 5 year old who could effortlessly move a dining room chair and strategically place it right in front of the scissors, markers and odds-and-ends bucket.

What I saw next made my heart stop:

Permanent black marker on the off white trim. Oh, yes. As I sat down, counted to 100 and had a lecture discussion with my son about only writing on paper, visions of sanding, priming and painting were going through my head.

And then I remembered the Mr. Clean coupon and headed to the store to find out if those Magic Erasers really are magic.

Here are the results:

Not a trace of black marker! And just like that Mr. Clean became my new BFF.

5. Divide dough into three portions. On a well-floured surface, roll one dough portion to a 12x9-inch rectangle {keep remaining dough chilled until ready to use}. Grease two large baking sheets; set aside.

7. Roll up, starting with a long side. Seal seam and place seam-side down on baking sheet.

8. Cut slits 2 inches apart and half way through loaf. Repeat with remaining dough and gilling. Cover; let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled {45 to 60 minutes}. Bake in a 375 degree oven about 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks. While warm drizzle with Almond Glaze and sprinkle with almonds.

Note: If you don't have almond extract on hand, replace almond extract with 1 teaspoon of vanilla for Vanilla Glaze.

Put glaze in a ziploc bag, close bag and cut a hole in one of the corners. Drizzle over warm bread.

To freeze: Prepare and bake as directed; do not glaze. Wrap in foil and place in freezer bags. Freeze for up to 3 months. To serve, place on baking sheet; bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through. Drizzle with glaze and sprinkle with nuts.

I mentioned last week that I was going to try the Sweet Potato Crescent Rolls recipe. It was with great satisfaction that I served homemade crescent rolls at dinner for the first time last week and listened while my family asked for seconds. :)

With my new-found confidence in baking with yeast, I'm going to make Cream Cheese Braids to serve with our Thanksgiving meal. This is a lot different from traditional rolls, but I thought this bread that is made with pineapple, cream cheese and sour cream would add a special touch to our meal. If all goes well, I hope to share the recipe this week.

I've tried to keep my meal plan fairly simple this week so that I don't get too overwhelmed with the extra baking for Thanksgiving. Here's what's cooking in my kitchen:

After a horribly embarrassing moment at a family Thanksgiving when my apple pie crust turned out a little too crunchy {ok....it was very crunchy}, I gave in and bought my first packaged pie crust. I remember the moment well...I looked around to make sure no one was looking, quickly snatched it up and hid it under the cereal.

The next year, I took my pumpkin pie with the ready-made pie crust to the family Thanksgiving dinner and confessed to my mom what I had done. She looked at the pie with wide eyes and said, "you did?"

I noticed this recipe from a fundraising cookbook from my alma mater, but was a little hesitant to try it. It's a little scary to try something that's called "foolproof" when you know there is a good chance that you could prove that name wrong. Throwing caution to the wind, I recruited some help and got to work.

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt together. My son is helping me mix the ingredients with his "smile spoon".

2. Mix in shortening until crumbly.

3. In a separate dish wisk vinegar, egg and water. I used cider vinegar as that is what I had on hand. Combine the vinegar mixture with the dry ingredients and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes or until ready to use up to one week. Can also be frozen.

The results:

A delicious blueberry pie...but I'll save that recipe for another time.

One of the ways our family likes to give during the holidays is to pack a shoebox {or two} for Operation Christmas Child. OCC sends these shoeboxes to children around the world.

Giving is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Use a standard size shoebox or plastic container {$.99 at Walmart} and purchase items to put into the shoebox.

2. Wrap the boxes and pack with items.

3. Print a label and attach it to the shoebox. Place your $7 donation into the shoebox {this helps with shipping costs}. If you make your donation online, you can follow your shoebox. You will get an e-mail telling you the destination of your shoebox! Find a drop off location nearest you or mail it to Samaritan's Purse, 801 Bamboo Rd., Boone, NC 28607.

We tried the Bloomin' Onion Bread last week and it was all I hoped it would be. I used what I had on hand {yellow onions and shredded cheese} and added a pinch of garlic powder.

Since I couldn't bring myself to pour a whole stick of butter over the bread, I used half of what the recipe called for. It still tasted wonderful and satisfied my craving for the real thing.

This week I'm going to try Sweet Potato Crescent Rolls for the first time. Yeast and I do not have a very friendly relationship; I usually avoid it at all costs. My family loves sweet potatoes and they're on sale this week, so it seemed like the perfect time to try this recipe. While I'm keeping my hopes up, I'm also preparing for a total disaster. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Notes: I used old candle jars for this project. The small candle jars from the Mainstays candles at Walmart work perfectly {recipe makes about 4 or 5 small jars}. The candles are inexpensive at just $1.00 and the labels peel right off--no need to spend extra time scrubbing sticky labels off. To get the last bit of candle wax out of the container, set the jar in warm water until softened. Other citrus fruit can be substituted for the lemon--I'm thinking about experimenting with grapefruit.

You may also be able to find inexpensive jars or containers at the dollar store.

3. Chop cookies and sprinkle over top. Lightly press cookies into batter and bake according to package directions, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting.

Note: Putting the brownies in the refrigerator before cutting will help firm them up and make them easier to cut.